Jeonju World Cup Stadium saw two previous ACL Champions fighting it out for the honour of meeting Guangzhou Evergrande or Kashiwa Reysol in the semi-final, and there is all to play for in the 2nd leg.Lee Keun-ho lined up for the Koreans against his former club after arriving on loan from El Jaish of Qatar in the summer transfer window.

Gamba manager Kenta Hasegawa was forced into changes, with Tomokazu Myojin replacing the suspended Yasuyuki Konno in the heart of the midfield, while Daiki Niwa took Koki Yonekura’s place at right back. Kotaro Omori started the match with Shu Kurata on the bench.

Jeonbuk had the better of the attacking play in the first half, but never really had Masaaki Higashiguchi struggling in the Gamba goal and it was the away team that came out looking the more lively in the second period. Kurata had replaced Omori at the break and Gamba had moved to a more fluid 4-2-3-1 with Takashi Usami on the left side of an attacking three behind Patric.

It was the big Brazilian who had a decent low shot saved early in the second half, while Usami and Kurata also had half chances as Gamba’s possession and passing game started to look like it might reap dividends but then, just as it seemed more likely that the away team would make the breakthrough, Jeonbuk poured forward and found space and a final mis-cued shot/pass found Lee Dong-gook with the goal at his mercy on the far post, but he put the ball wide from yards out.

Myojin had been felled twice, but got up and played on each time and when Yosuke Ideguchi was called on from the bench it was a surprise to see Hiroyuki Abe replaced. Kudos to Myojin for an excellent veteran’s performance when it mattered!

And so to the 2nd leg, which will take place at Banpaku on Wednesday, September 16th. Konno will be back and available, but Gamba will have to do without Usami, who picked up his second booking of the knockout stage and will be suspended.

Team – Higashiguchi, Niwa, Iwashita, Kim, Fujiharu, Myojin, Endo, Abe (Ideguchi, 72), Omori (Kurata, 46), Usami (Lins, 86), Patric

Team sheet and pictures courtesy of the AFC and World Sport Group